Blackbriar Apprentice
by MidnightWaterLily
Summary: Jason returns from a mission to find that he has to train a new subject for the Blackbriar poject, but this isn't any trainee: it's Elise Windham. Premovies. Prequel to The Bourne Manipulation.
1. The Mission

A/N: This takes place before the movies and books and is a prequel to The Bourne Manipulation, though you can read either one without the other.

**Chapter One: The Mission**

"Good. It's done." Conklin surveyed the information the agents had just handed him. Give the order to come back to Berlin – I've got a new job for him."

- -

"What's the new assignment?" Jason asked. He stood tall and rigid in Landy's office. He had taken a direct flight from Tokyo to Berlin – and had not slept in days - but it didn't show. He was just as strong and prepared as ever.

"We've got a new addition to our project, and we want you to take over the training. You've proven yourself to be extremely capable. We're happy with your development."

Bourne's shoulders lost some of their posture.

"How long will it take?" He asked.

"We don't know. Possibly longer than the training you underwent. It all depends on how the subject responds."

"Where is he?" Jason asked. The sooner they started, the sooner it would be over with, and he could get back to being what they had made him – what he was about to make someone else.

"Room 202. They're working on some simple experiments now."

Grief. Hadn't they done enough experiments?

"Fine." Jason dropped the weapon of his most recent accomplishment on Pamela's desk, and turned on his heel.

He could hear the straightforward interrogation going on in German as he opened the door – but what he saw inside – was not at all what he had expected.

Sitting across from the interrogator was a woman. She was fairly young – maybe 27. He dark brown hair was pulled back in a long braid. She wore a simple uniform – a brown army shirt and camouflage cargo pants.

Wide brown eyes turned curiously toward him as he stood in the doorway. He was not gaping. His jaw remained locked firmly in place. The other agent stared at him for a moment, and then pushed his chair back – rising to his feet. The girl remained seated.

"Mr. Bourne – this is Elise Windham." He introduced them. Not bothering to reverse the introduction for the girl's sake.

"Thank you. I'll take over from here." Jason dismissed the man with a curt nod. He walked over to the table and sat down, looking over her file without speaking a word.

She had been Air Force, chosen for her fluency in Spanish, French, German and Creole. She had exceptional people skills, lack of family, willingness for the mission, and excelled performance history. She remained silent across from him – un-fidgeting.

"You've agreed to undergo this?" Jason finally asked – meeting her steely gaze.

"Yes." Her voice was confident.

"Why?" He had to know. If he was going to train her, he needed to understand what was going on inside her head.

"It's what I'm good at. It's my way of helping people." No emotion played across her face or fluctuated her voice. Jason still knew instinctively that she was not a strong, not as uncaring as she came across. She would need to be broken down and built back up. And that was what they were asking him to do.

"Get some sleep. We start tomorrow." He stood and walked out without any further explanation.

- -

Jason flicked on the lights in his apartment. It was good to be back in the familiar. Everything was just as he'd left it, spotless, all in order. He heated up the take out dinner and settled down to watch the news.

Noise. The noise was too much. He clicked the television off. The silence was comforting as it settled around him. It was all he needed for the moment – to disappear into the black silence – for his aching body and spinning head to blur with nothingness.


	2. Intensity

**Chapter Two: Intensity **

"Who are you? What is your name? Tell me who you're working with!" The booming voice woke Elise up with a jerk. She sprung upright in bed. Where was she? The only thing she could see in the otherwise pitch-black room was the blinding light of a hand-torch.

"I _said_ – tell me who you're working with. Now!" The voice was demanding – persistent.

"I – I…"

"I'll shoot!" A cold hard fun pushed against her neck threateningly.

"Air Force – no! What do you want from me?" Elise was so scared, so confused.

"American Air Force? They wouldn't send you. Not like this. I'll give you one more chance. Who are you with?"

"Elise – my name is Elise Windham. Is that what you want?" She pleaded desperately.

"No!" The light turned away from her eyes and Jason flipped the light switch, revealing the small room with light – revealing the single cot.

Elise was sitting up – holding the sheet around her body – dressed in a camisole. Her face was flushed, her eyes still darting about in confusion. As she searched his angry face the truth dawned on her.

"Never – ever give you name. Never who you're working with – what you're doing and why. Make something up if you have to. If you don't, you _die._" His tone was harsh – his voice controlled. He felt some sympathy for her, but he couldn't drop the act. This was how she would learn. The fear still hadn't left her eyes. She was not as concrete as she had let on after all.

"Get dressed. We're going to go now." He told her.

Elise glanced groggily at the clock – head pounding. It was 3:00 AM. She didn't argue, but waited for him to turn around so she could scramble into her pants, t-shirt and sweatshirt. She could do this. She would persist.

Jason led her to the street.

"How far can you run?" He asked.

"Ten miles." She responded. Her air force training had built her up.

"That's decent. Go." Jason ran alongside her. He knew that the cold early morning air would take away from her ability to run as far as she said. He also knew that their current altitude worked against her favor.

At seven miles she was gasping for air – gulping it in unsteadily. He let her struggle another mile – and then stopped. "You need to realize the climate you're in. If you're being chased – think of a back-up plan; somewhere to hide – or a way to turn on them before you run out of energy."

She leaned her hands on her knees – letting her breath steady for a moment. They walked back to the headquarters. The sun had still not lightened the sky. Elise's hair clung to the back of her neck with sweat. She was wide awake now – but unsure of what this Bourne would throw at her next.

He brewed a cup of coffee in the lobby. The offices were quiet – though a few of the staff were on night shift. Jason studied Elise as she drank from the Styrofoam cup. He wondered what she had been like back in her own environment. Her hobbies – her passions – they'd all be left behind- thrown away until she reached a point when Treadstone no longer had a use for her.

He also wondered about her friends. Armed Forces acquaintances changed frequently. She would be used to that. They had chosen her for lack of connections. Boyfriend? Obviously not anymore. Surprising, he would have thought anyone might have snatched up a catch like this. Perhaps she had a cold personality. No – not if she had such a desire to help people; maybe another personality flaw. Difficult – ornery? Maybe.

Jason stood – they were both done with their coffee. He led her to a room filled with filing cabinets. He pulled a drawer out and put it in front of her.

"Tell me the main content of these files." He requested. She looked at him a moment- then began to quickly leaf through them – memorizing key information, analyzing it all.

"Stop." Bourne told her two minutes later. "What's their purpose?"

"They're profiles on leading men in the MI -5." She told him.

"Why would we need them?" He wanted her to think fast.

"In case they got in our way – or if we needed them." She explained quickly.

"Pretty close." He smiled and pulled out another drawer – but did not reveal the contents to her. Instead he led her down a few flights of steps into the basement. A well stocked gym met them there.

"Look in this box." Jason held the file drawer under her nose for twenty seconds, then whipped it away.

"Ok – it's me against you – take me down." He took on a wrestling stance. She hesitated.

"Go ahead – don't be afraid to hurt me. Give me everything you've got." He encouraged.

She dealt a blow to the stomach – easily blocked.

"Tell me what you saw in that box." Jason instructed as they battled.

Her concentration was off- as he intended.

"A gun – some papers – bullets." He pinned her down without effort.

"Again." They repeated the fight three times. He was always able to bring her to the floor in seconds.

Elise's cheeks were flushed scarlet. Jason showed her how to block a few moves and played out the fight again. For two hours they kept the tournament up – he never let her win. He did not want to give her a false feeling of strength of accomplishment. Not today. She needed to struggle – to earn it, to learn how tough this was going to be.

"Time for a break." He announced, and tossed her a towel to mop up some of the sweat. She probably wanted a shower – but it wasn't' time for that long of a break yet.

They ate a small breakfast with lots of grains and protein – and were off again.

Elise was used to more team- style training; trust building and such. Here it was not so. She had to learn how to work on her own – fend for herself. No one else would care. She wouldn't always have Jason watching her back – and the simulated experiences he put her through would soon be real. It scared the living daylights out of her.

He continued the intense training until 4:00 – at which point she was beginning to show signs of fatigue. He allowed half an hour to have another meal and reenergize – then started some less physically demanded work.

By 10 PM Elise was fairly confident she would be able to take apart almost any bomb – with almost any tools – but Jason seemed to think that she could use a few more hours practice before checking it off the list altogether.

"Meet me in the lobby at 5:30 tomorrow." Jason told her – and dismissed her. She was beat tired – but would not fall into bed until she had a nice hot shower.

As she walked down the corridor, another woman, tall with light brown hair, strode toward her – passing Elise – intent on Jason.

"Meet me in my office at 11:00." Elise heard the woman say. Jason must not have made a verbal response – because Elsie could not hear anything else transpire between the two as she headed for the bathroom.


	3. Eavesdropping

**Chapter Three:**

It was dark, incredibly dark. Hardly a sound filled the basement where Elise was trapped. A dripping noise sounded steadily to her right…and nothing. She had to move fast. If she did not get out within 10 minutes, she would be dead. The cause of death? Unknown. In fact, she might not even be reported for weeks.

A dehumidifier clicked on – filling the concrete space with a fan-like whooshing. She moved quickly. Her heart throbbed against her chest. The plink…plunk of the drip could still be heard, but quieter footsteps would not resound to hearing level. She felt along the cool wall…a metal box the size of a filing cabinet obstructed her path momentarily. The dripping noise was fading…a change in acoustics, the dehumidifier's sound was different ahead – more hollow. A hall? A stairway?

Elise held her hands out – meeting no barrier. _Thunk_. Her foot hit a stair. She scampered up the well and quickly unlocked the door with a pick. A glance at her watch informed Elise that she had accomplished her task well under the time limit. She hurried up to Jason's office.

Through the cracked door a deep voice in conversation caused Elise to halt and listen. She had been expecting Jason to be by himself – having been watching his tv where he was monitoring her practice escape.

"We'll take over her training for a few days. You've had a week, it's time to raise the intensity level, I think. When we're done you can complete the training." It was Conklin's voice, and it sent chills through her spine.

"I don't think that will be necessary." Jason's voice responded firmly.

"It's not about what you think." Alex Conklin was not to be argued with. Not even by Jason Bourne.

Footsteps indicated that Alex was leaving, and Elise quickly hid herself around the corner, waiting for his tall body to disappear before coming back to the door. Her hands shook as she turned the handle and cautiously peered inside. Jason sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He looked up as she pushed the door open, and blinked hard. His expression changed from weary to business like between the flicker of his eyelids.

He turned back to the monitor, quickly reassessing his previous occupation. If she had come in a few seconds later she never would have guessed what had just transpired.

"You did well. That's it for tonight. Tomorrow…" He looked at her for a moment, letting the weariness start to show for a second, and then took up the files on his desk, breaking the short trance. "Meet here tomorrow, same time."

Elise did not speak as she left. Her feelings were shooting in thousands of different directions, but the one that rose above all the rest was fear. Fear of the unknown. Whatever new training she was to meet in the morning scared her, and she wanted out. A new level of intensity might be just enough to make her crack – and maybe that was what they wanted.

A glance at her clock triggered another memory. Jason had a meeting with that woman in five minutes, and Elise wanted to know what was going on. Maybe the topic of their conversation would hold some clue to the unspoken mystery that filled this building, as thick as smoke. How could she listen in without getting caught?

She walked slowly down the corridor, looking for the office she had seen the woman disappear into earlier. She found it at the end of the hall. **Parsons, Nikki. **There was no clue as to just what part Nikki played in this office. What card she held in this wild game. But there was only one way to find out.

The light was off in the office, and if Elise managed to temporarily block passage to the room, the scheduled meeting might just take place in a more public spot. A range of ideas filled her head, and she settled on something simple. The minutes were quickly counting down. She slipped inside, with slight difficulty from her pick, and unscrewed all of the light bulbs, just slightly enough to appear that they were out.

Just as she had hid herself around the corner, the clicking of heels clipped along, the door was unlocked, and the light switch flipped several times.

"What's wrong?" She hadn't been listening for Jason's voice, and it surprised her.

"Oh – nothing. My lights just went out." Nikki responded.

"No problem. We can talk downstairs." _Shoot!_ They were coming her way. Elise scrambled into the nearest open room – the men's bathroom. Thankfully almost everyone had gone home for the night, and no one else remained on that floor. She waited a reasonable amount of time for the two to pass and then followed.

Her luck proved sure when she opened the door of the stairwell to hear their voices echoing from the bottom. Not private at all.

"I haven't seen much of you lately. I thought things were going to be different since your last mission." She was saying.

A pause. And then, "Things are different, Nikki. Just not in the way that I expected. I didn't know they were going to bring someone new onboard."

"I did. They've been planning it for awhile. I just didn't know that they'd choose you to be the top man on this assignment." There was a pout in her voice.

"Well, I have a week off of the job, starting tomorrow." There was resistance in his voice…resistance and uncertainty.

"Good. You deserve some time off. Come on, if you don't have to come in we can stay out late." She urged.

"You still have to come in." He countered.

The door opened, and their voices faded as it slammed shut behind them. Elise turned on her heel and headed to her quarters. The conversation had not been of the genre she had anticipated. Jason had never given any sign of being involved before. Then again, there was never much talk about personal life coming from him. She sighed and prepared for bed – only to toss and turn in disarray over the next day's dawning.


End file.
